


Tunnelpfiefer

by bluebeholder



Category: Supernatural
Genre: A Distinct Lack of Observancy Is Demonstrated, Dean and Sam Go Hunting, Do Not Get Attached To The Cat, Gen, Monsters, Subways, There is a cat, casefic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-27
Updated: 2015-09-27
Packaged: 2018-04-23 14:17:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4880026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluebeholder/pseuds/bluebeholder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Construction workers are going missing. Of course, Dean and Sam have to look into it...they don't quite get what they expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tunnelpfiefer

**Author's Note:**

> I found the titular creature at the following site: http://guff.com/paranormal-creatures-youve-never-heard-of
> 
> Thus this ficlet was born.

“Seriously?” Dean peered down the subway tunnel. He couldn’t see anything. “We’re gonna go down there?”

“That’s where they heard the whistling,” Sam said. He shone the flashlight into the blackness. All he got was the vague outline of the tunnel walls, and darkness beyond.

Dean sighed. “Okay. It’s a…what now?”

Sam toed the edge of the platform. “A tunnelpfeiffer.”

“English!”

“Tunnel piper.”

“Whatever,” Dean muttered. “C’mon.” He jumped from the platform and landed beside the tracks.

Their boots crunched on the gravel as they headed into the tunnel. This section of tunnels had been closed off indefinitely for repairs, which was the first clue that not all was well down here. Periodically, emergency lights cast a vague glow over the tracks. Except for that, though, it was pitch-black. 

Construction workers, Dean recalled, had vanished down here. Sam thought nervously about all the other things that tended to lurk in abandoned tunnels.

Patches of graffiti marked the walls: weird symbols, signatures, spray-sketched murals, messages between construction workers. The tunnel stank of petroleum, concrete, and—beneath that—the distinct smell of carrion and rot. 

They passed the body of a large dog, chewed down to the bones. 

“Son of a bitch, there is something down here.” Dean nudged the body with his toe.

Sam held his nose. “Let’s find it and get out of here…next right’s where the whistling is supposed to be.”

They took the turn. Not for the first time, Sam wished they had invested in night-vision goggles. Dean twitched at every scutter and scurry from beyond the flashlights’ pale glow. 

Just when they were about to turn back, a whistle echoed out of the darkness ahead.

They froze. Slowly, Dean drew his gun. Sam leveled the shotgun at the direction of the whistle. The tunnelpfeiffer was ahead.

The whistle came again, closer this time. 

Scuffling noises drew nearer and nearer to Dean and Sam. “Get ready,” Dean said out of the corner of his mouth. Sam held the flashlight steady. The noises came closer…closer…closer…

Into the light scurried a honey-colored cat with appealing eyes. Its tail waved as it looked inquisitively at Sam and Dean.

“Is that it?” Dean demanded, lowering his gun.

The cat, apparently deciding that they weren’t worth more time, trotted on past. 

“Maybe?...” Sam looked around. He approached a grate at the side of the tunnel, placing his hand over it. “Look at this.”

Dean joined his brother at the wall and bent over the grate. “It’s definitely whistling,” he said. “Train goes by, big gust of wind? I’d bet this thing screams like you seeing a clown.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Shut up, Dean,” he said tolerantly. 

“Guess we’re done here, anyway,” Dean said, shining his flashlight around again. Pipes lined the walls, big fat storm drains, looping up over the ceiling and around a maintenance door cut into one wall. An emergency light shone cheerfully over it. “Let’s go. ’S just a grate. Bet that dog just died down here.”

Together, they walked back the way they came. “Dinner when we get out?” Sam asked, voice fading as they departed.

When the footsteps faded completely, all was silent for a moment. The little cat trotted back, into the faint glow of the emergency light. It stood for a moment, whiffling its nose.

Before it could go anywhere, the pipes surged and roiled, curling around the cat. A great mouth snapped out of the darkness, swallowing the cat whole behind sharp teeth. 

In the faint light, a single great eye blinked lazily. 

A moment later, with a smacking crunching noise, the mouth spat the cat back out. The body was nothing but a pile of chewed bones.

The pipes moved again, this time wending their way into the blackness. When they were gone, there was nothing but the gravel, the abandoned tracks, and the dim little emergency light. 

A whistle echoed through the tunnel.

**Author's Note:**

> (Yes, the thing with one eye and big teeth is the tunnelpfiefer. Call it poetic license.)


End file.
